Provo company joins suit against Chicago gun limits

A Provo maker of firing-range equipment has joined a lawsuit against Chicago’s new handgun restrictions, which bar gun shops and shooting ranges.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s response to the U.S. Supreme Court nullifying a full ban on handguns was a new ordinance last month that allows handguns only inside homes, and only with training and registration. Any prospective gun owners who want to fulfill the training requirement will have to leave the city to do so.

Action Target of Provo joined several plaintiffs in calling that an unreasonable restriction in a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

“People have the right to keep and bear firearms, and the city’s ordinance makes that very difficult for the citizens of Chicago,” said Randy Graham, vice president of the company for which Provo Mayor John Curtis was a founder and remains part-owner.

“It creates a situation where some people may not be able to meet that [training] requirement,” Graham said, “and it certainly creates a hardship for others. The best way for individuals to have firearms is to be trained in the use of those firearms.”

Action Target has built and installed steel bullet traps and other equipment for police and federal agency firing ranges in Chicago, Graham said, and would be interested in helping build private ranges now that the city allows handguns. Private ranges aren’t a big part of the business, though, so he said the main motivation for suing was to make a constitutional stand.

Curtis declined to comment and said he now is a minority owner who was not consulted before the company joined the suit.

Action Target joins the Second Amendment Foundation, the Illinois State Rifle Association and three people in the lawsuit.

“By banning public gun ranges and by banning the loan and rental of firearms at such ranges, Chicago is acting under color of law to deprive citizens of their right to keep and bear arms,” Second Amendment Foundation Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said in a written statement.

A spokeswoman for Chicago’s legal department did not respond to requests for comment about the city’s ordinance. When proposing the new rules last month, Daley said in a news release, “As long as I’m mayor, we will never give up or give in to the gun violence that continues to threaten every part of our nation, including Chicago.”

The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence supports the new restrictions, and a campaign director at the nonprofit group said it’s not unreasonable to ask people to make a short trip for the mandatory training.

“There are several firing ranges within 15 or 20 miles of the city, in the suburbs,” said Mark Walsh, the council’s gun-violence-prevention campaign director. “I don’t really think that’s an undue burden.”

The group argues that more permissive gun laws would increase the city’s gun violence, which already has resulted in the deaths of four police officers this summer.

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mustang_steve

August 29, 2010, 09:48 PM

I'm really hoping this ends up with Daly spending time in jail for contempt of court, without release until the actions in question are repealed. Howver, I know that would only be in an ideal world. Hopefully this guy figures out that no means no and quits with his attempts to circumvent the rights of the people of Chicago.

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